Greater
Manchester mayor urges restraint after new airport footage emerges
New video
apparently shows violent build-up to incident in which officer allegedly
stamped on man during arrest
PA Media
Sun 28 Jul
2024 00.05 BST
The mayor of
Greater Manchester urged people “not to rush to judgment” over the Manchester
airport incident after new footage appeared to show a violent and frenetic
lead-up.
Protests
erupted in Rochdale and Manchester city centre after a video circulated of an
officer allegedly kicking and stamping on a man as he lay face-down during an
arrest at the airport on Tuesday.
A Greater
Manchester police (GMP) constable has been advised he is under criminal
investigation for assault over the incident, the Independent Office for Police
Conduct (IOPC) said on Friday.
On Saturday,
the Manchester Evening News published new footage believed to be of the
preceding events.
The video
appears to show a group of people standing by ticket machines in Terminal 2
(T2) and a man in a light blue outfit is facing one of the machines. It appears
three officers approach him from behind and try to restrain him, with a male
officer seemingly pushing his head down.
Another man,
wearing a dark T-shirt, appears to grab the male officer and the two start to
throw punches at one another. The male officer seems to lower to the ground as
the man repeatedly strikes him.
Meanwhile a
female officer is restraining the man in blue, but he appears to break free and
strike her and another female officer, with one ending up on the ground. The
male officer then seems to point his stun gun at the man in a dark T-shirt
before the man in blue runs at him from behind.
They appear
to grapple until the man in blue lies still on the ground, face-down, and a
woman kneels by his side. The officer then appears to kick and then stamp on
his head, which was shown in the footage already widely circulated.
Greater
Manchester police has opened a public portal for more footage and it is
appealing for witnesses to three incidents.
The first is
“an altercation between passengers” from Qatar Airways flight QR023 that
arrived at 7.20pm, which they said may have taken place on the flight or in T2
baggage hall.
There was
then a “violent altercation involving members of the public” in T2 at about
8.22pm, GMP said.
At 8.28pm in
the terminal car park’s pay point area, three police officers were assaulted
and left with head injuries including a broken nose, it added.
After the
Manchester Evening News published the latest footage, Greater Manchester’s
mayor, Andy Burnham, said in a statement: “As I said on Thursday, this is a
complicated situation with two sides to it. It is why I urged people not to
rush to judgment.
“Following
incidents in the run-up to the footage people saw this week, four individuals
were arrested and are now on police bail.
“It is
frustrating that we have not been able to put more video into the public domain
but that is because this is a live investigation.
“People now
need to step back and allow the IOPC’s criminal investigation into the
officer’s conduct to move forward, alongside the parallel GMP investigation
into other potential offences, so that a complete picture can be presented.
“Given all
these investigations are ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment
further.”
The family
of the man who was reportedly kicked and stamped on issued a “plea for calm”
and urged people not to take part in any further protests, their MP said
earlier on Saturday.
The officer
facing a criminal investigation was also served with a disciplinary notice to
inform him he was being investigated for potential gross misconduct for a
number of alleged breaches of police professional standards, including his use
of force, an IOPC spokesperson said.
On
Wednesday, a large crowd protested outside Rochdale police station, reportedly
shouting “GMP shame on you”, while on Thursday, demonstrators blocked roads and
tram lines in a protest which started outside Burnham’s office in central
Manchester.
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